BY MATTHEW WARD
SUFFOLK NEWS-HERALD
matthew.ward@suffolknewsherald.com

SUFFOLK—A Suffolk software developer has produced an Android app for deer hunters to track game on cell phones in real time.

Harbour View resident Doug Pillsbury operates his software development company, DJP Ltd., the Western Branch part of Chesapeake.

With a team of four or five other people who don’t necessarily work directly for him, and one other software developer, Pillsbury is plotting to take the world of deer hunting by storm.

Pillsbury’s app, which he has been dubbed DeerLogic, helps hunters locate, pattern and track game.

It’s the technological version of an age-old habit many hunters practice — carefully mapping hunting territory to form a picture of where to focus.

“We have always tracked our deer hunting, using topographical maps with pushpins,” he said.

Hunters feed data into the app to suggest where deer might be found, such as rubs, scrapes, bedding areas, trails and actual sightings.

Pillsbury said the technology has three phases.

First, single users can map data for their own purposes.

Second, and what Pillsbury says “really drives to the heart of what DeerLogic is,” hunt groups can share data.

Pillsbury said the third, “Holy Grail phase,” is for the global user.

“All of the users of the system publish their data at a national level, and you will be able to see the whole continent and every data point that gets entered, you will be able to see,” he said.

Pillsbury formerly used the same type of geographic information system technology on his desktop computer.

“We were waiting for technology to get to the point where we could do it on the phone, and now the technology has evolved enough that you can enter all the data right there on your phone,” he said.

His company has developed software used by the National Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, experiences he said helped develop DeerLogic.

He hopes to include a function allowing users to input additional information such as moon phases, which would predict the best times for hunting.

The app, which Pillsbury plans to launch at the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show in Richmond on Friday, Aug. 10, will be priced at $1.99, and wildlife researchers will also benefit from it.

“We have called this the Facebook of hunting,” he said. “We feel … this is really going to enhance the way we hunt.”

He said it would be available from the Google Play Store, and on other platforms such as the iPhone further in the future.

Visit www.deerlogic.com for more information.